Leeds scientists develop new heart test

Scientists at Leeds University have developed a new test which could give doctors a head start in diagnosing those patients most likely to suffer a heart attack.

The test could result in fewer patients being “needlessly” admitted to hospital, enabling medics to concentrate on those most needing their help.

Alistair Hall, professor of clinical cardiology at Leeds, explained: “Casualty departments regularly see patients with chest pains. The highest-risk patients are easy to diagnose and are admitted straight away.

“[Patients] with no risk of having a heart attack are also easy to spot. It’s the group in between which is hardest to correctly diagnose. Typically patients are admitted for 24 hours while the hospital figures out the cause.”

The new test, developed at the university and funded by the British Heart Foundation, searches for a heart-type fatty acid-binding protein which is released into the circulation following heart injury, to help diagnose patients in this grey area.

Heart and circulatory disease is the UK’s biggest killer with cardiovascular disease accounting for just over 216,000 deaths in 2004 – around four out of every ten deaths.

In the UK, someone has a heart attack every two minutes and in around 30 per cent of heart attack cases, the patient dies.